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Contributions  to  Education 

Number  IV 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO;    :  :  \  i 

FOUNDED  BV  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER      -   '  '"• 


t      «  •  • 


CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  EDUCATION 

Number  IV 


Ethics  IN  the  School 


BY 


ELLA  FLAGG  YOUNG 


PROFESSOR  OF  EDUCATION 


CHICAGO 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1902 


EDUCATION  DEPT 

LC2b? 
Y7 


Copyright,  1902,  by 

The  University  of  Chicago 

chicago)  ill 


Ethics  in  the  School 


6S59-7<^ 


INTRODUCTION. 

This  study  aims  to  assist  inexperienced 
teachers,  and  also  those  who,  though  having 
considerable  experience  back  of  them  and 
much  pleasure  in  teaching,  still  find  them- 
selves sometimes  troubled  and  discouraged 
because  of  their  inability  to  discover  those 
gauses  which  are  active  in  many  trying  cases 
that  arise  in  school  discipline.  Though  the 
questions  discussed  are  raised  by  means  of  the 
presentation  of  practical  situations,  I  hope  the 
treatment  is  sufficiently  suggestive  to  make  it 
effective  in  endeavors  to  answer  others  which 
originate  in  conditions  not  involved  m  the  ob- 
servations forming  the  basis  of  this  inquiry. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  tasks  set  for  us  is 
yie  application  of  principles  to  the  direction  of 
our  acts  in  the  familiar  affairs  of  life;  hence  no 
apology  is  offered  for  making  a  study  of  the 
perplexities  and  trials  that  beset  the  teacher  in 
the  daily  experience.  I  believe  the  petty  an- 
noyances, as  well  as  the  greater  problems  of 
the  class  room,  may  be  focused  in  the  light  of 
ethical  principles,  so  that  we  shall  transcend  the 
commonplace  in  everything  which  pertains  to 

the  conduct  of  the  schools. 

E.  F.  Y. 
CmcAGO,  December,  1901. 


ETHICS  IN  THE  SCHOOL. 

Running  through  the  works  of  the  theologian 
and  the  poet,  of  the  philosopher  and  the  novel- 
ist, is  the  question,  What  is  the  end  and  aim 
of  this  life  ?  The  answer,  whether  expressed 
in  argument  or  in  song,  by  inquiry  into  the 
mystery  of  life,  or  by  the  portrayal  of  a  great 
passion,  is  ever  the  same  :  our  being's  end  and 
aim  is  the  evolution  of  ^character  wh^^^^ 
through  thinking  of  the  right  and  acting'tor 
the  right,  shalljmake  for  right  conduct,  recti- 
tude, righteousness. 

Interest  in  this,  the  greatest  question  put 
to  the  human  race  for  solution,  is  not  limited 
to  a  particular  type  of  mind  nor  to  a  single 
class  in  society.  The  blacksmith  at  the  forge, 
as  well  as  the  philosopher  in  his  study,  discus- 
ses the  fundamental  conditions  in  the  attain- 
ment of  the  good  as  an  ultimate  end  of  this 
life's  activity.  The  maid  in  the  kitchen,  as 
well  as  the  teacher  in  the  school,  weeps  over 
the  failures  and  glows  over  the  victories  of  the 
creations  of  the  dramatist  and  the  novelist. 
Each  knows  as  she  follows  the  deft  weaving 
of  character  that  time  will  bring  many  con- 
flicts ere  the  judgment,  Well  done,  faithful  one, 
9 


Ethics  in  the  School 


can  be  passed.  As  the  drama  or  the  novel 
closes,  the  beholder,  awed  by  the  long  strug- 
gle to  gain  the  heights,  murmurs,  "  Heaven  is 
not  gained  at  a  single  bound." 

Before  reaching  manhood  or  womanhood 
we  all  come  to  know  that  a  something  called 
virtue  must,  by  a  slow  process,  be  realized  in 
the  daily  life.  But  when  the  ideals  of  virtue 
are  examined,  we  find  that  they  range  with  in- 
finitesimal variations,  from  the  extreme  where 
virtue  is  painted  as  mere  self-abnegation,  to 
that  other  where  virtue  is  defined  as  a  volun- 
tary effort  having  three  things  in  view:  the 
interest  of  self,  the  benefitjaf^others,  and  con- 
formity to  the  law  of  right. 

Considering  the  magnitude  of  the  question, 
What  is  the  end  and  aim  of  this  life  ?  and  the 
widespread  interest  in  its  answer,  would  it  not 
be  reasonable  to  infer  that  first  among  the 
problems  carefully  studied  are  those  in  ethics  ? 
Ethics  is  the  science  of  duty,  of  conduct.  It 
deals  with  the  causes  of  acts,  considered  not 
from  the  gains  or  losses  that  will  accrue  to  the 
self,  but  from  the  nature  of  the  causes  them- 
selves. So  long  did  duty  necessarily  pertain  to 
self-preservation,  and  character  stand  for  the 
ability  to  cope  with  a  foe,  that  for  many  genera- 
tions the  standard  of  conduct  was  not  based  on 
the  principle   laid  down   in  the  definition   of 


Ethics  in  the  School  1 1 

ethics.  In  recent  years  there  has  been  a  rapid 
evolution  of  a  higher  standard  of  conduct  than 
that  of  earlier  times.  There  has  been,  however, 
and  there  still  is,  a  widespread  belief  that  the 
iteration  and  reiteration  of  maxims,  precepts, 
and  rules,  based  in  part  on  definitions  of  the 
moral  ideals  and  in  part  on  the  customs  of  so- 
ciety, is  an  excellent  method  for  developing  a 
high  standard  of  living  and  thinking  in  the 
young.  In  the  minds  of  teachers  and  adult 
friends,  the  acceptance  of  this  code  without  ob- 
jections insures  for  the  youth  the  promise  of  a 
fine  character. 

Theories  and  customs  that  for  centuries 
have  guided  the  human  race  in  its  upward 
march  cannot  and  should  not  be  set  aside 
lightly.  All  interpretations  of  truths  pertain- 
ing to  the  higher  nature  must,  however,  from 
time  to  time,  be  subjected  to  revision.  As  hu- 
manity moves  forward  its  soul's  vistas  enlarge, 
taking  in  new  sympathies  and  new  beauties, 
feo  today,  if  we  have  been  reared  and  nurtured 
in  the  time  spirit,  the  ideal  of  virtue  as  objecti- 
fied by  our  characters  should  include  elements 
only  foreshadowed  in  the  characters  of  our  an- 
cestors a  few  generations  back.  What  is  true 
of  a  race,  or  of  a  nation,  as  regards  its  charac- 
ter development,  is  true  of  that  part  of  the 
body  politic  known    as    the    teaching    corps. 


1 2  Ethics  in  the  School 

Too  long  has  the  school  been  viewed  as  an  in- 
stitution having  a  morality  peculiarly  its  own ; 
too  long  have  its  particular  rules  and  customs 
been  made  the  basis  for  only  an  initiation  into 
the  social  life  of  humanity.  The  day  has  come 
when  the  teaching  corps  must,  as  a  body,  pass 
in  review  the  customs  of  the  school ;  must  an- 
alyze those  based  on  the  morality  of  an  insti- 
tution which  separated  itself  from  the  social 
whole;  must  reject  those  which  develop  a 
traditional  morality  for  a  brief  period  of  life ; 
must  move  in  step  with  the  time  spirit,  devel- 
oping throughout  the  school  those  sympathetic 
and  sterling  qualities  which  make  for  right- 
eousness all  through  life. 

Necessarily  the  problems  and  illustrations 
presented  in  this  paper  will  be  taken  from 
everyday  life  in  the  school. 

The  first  problem  set  for  solution  is  this :  Is 
rivalry,  emulatjflii  between  children,  a  health- 
ful ifactor  in  the  school  ?  A  prominent  psy- 
chologist says : 

The  feeling  of  rivalry  lies  at  the  very  basis  of  our 
being,  all  social  improvement  being  largely  due  to  it. 
Can  we  afiEord  to  throw  such  an  ally  away?  Ought  we 
seriously  to  hope  that  marks,  distinctions,  prizes  based 
on  the  pursuit  of  recognized  superiority,  should  be  for- 
ever banished  from  our  schools  ?  As  a  psychologist, 
obliged  to  notice  the  deep  and  pervasive  character  of 
the  emulous  passion,  I  have  my  doubts. 


Ethics  in  the  School  13 

Let  us  first  meet  his  position  with  an  illus- 
tration that  might  be  taken  from  almost  any 
school.  The  names  of  three  children  in  a 
reading  class  are  George,  Lucy,  and  Frank. 
George  has  just  read  a  paragraph  aloud  and 
the  teacher  has  called  upon  Lucy  to  read  the 
same.  When  Lucy  reads  that  paragraph  what 
should  be  her  motive — to  express  the  thought 
as  she  understands  it,  or  to  surpass  George  ? 
If  we  wish  to  know  what  that  printed  page 
means  to  her ;  if  \ye  wish  her  to  read  so  as  to 
describe  the  mental  image  constructed  by  her 
mind,  why  say,  "  Lucy,  see  if  you  can  read 
that  better  than  George  did  ?"  If  we  wish  her 
to  read  for  the  purpose  of  surpassing  George, 
what  a  motive  has  been  given  her  for  reading ! 
Outside  of  the  schools  in  what  is  termed  real 
life,  friends  do  not  ask  one  another  to  read  a 
sentence,  a  stanza,  a  business  proposition  to 
see  if  one  can  read  it  better  than  another. 
They  ask  for  the  interpretation,  or,  as  usually 
expressed,  to  find  out  what  different  people 
understand  by  it. 

Let  us  return  to  our  little  class.  After 
George  and  Lucy  have  read,  Frank  is  asked  if 
he  does  not  wish  to  see  if  he  can  do  as  well 
as,  or  better  than,  the  others.  Frank  knows 
that  he  is  a  poor  reader ;  knows  that  any 
attempt  to  play  the  role  of  a  superior  reader 


14  Ethics  in  the  School 

will  make  him  appear  ridiculous ;  or,  possibly, 
he  is  not  sufficiently  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
rivalry  to  care  to  surpass  his  mates,  so,  he  re- 
plies, "  No,  I  don't  care  to."  According  to 
the  moral  code  in  most  schools,  Frank  should 
have  desired  to  read,  not  necessarily  to  express 
the  thought  as  he  understood  it,  but  to  surpass 
his  classmates,  and  that  chiefly  because  his 
teacher  had  summoned  the  ally,  rivalry,  to 
speed  on  the  contest.  What  is  the  prospect 
as  to  Frank's  evolution  of  character  ? 

Some  will  say  that  the  changes  rung  on  bet- 
ter, *•  Who  can  do  better  ?"  "  Mary,  try  —  I 
know  you  can  do  better  than  John;"  "That 
is  better  than  Lucy's"  mean  little ;  they  are 
rung  for  the  purpose  of  arousing  enthusiasm. 
Enthusiasm  for  what  ? 

In  an  overwhelming  majority  of  homes  and 
schools,  rivalry  is  the  spur  constantly  applied 
by  parents  and  teachers.  Right  there  is  the 
cause  of  the  trouble,  in  that  spur.  The  discus- 
sions that  go  on  about  emulation  and  imitation 
as  factors  in  education,  are  based  on  the  same 
kind  of  confusion  in  thinking.  The  difficulty 
in  each  case  originates  in  calling  in  the  pas- 
sion or  the  power  as  an  ally,  and  the  mistaken 
•'  ally "  idea  originates  in  the  failure  to  dis- 
^guish_  .b^etween  spontaneous  activity  and 
directed ^agtiyit^.     It  is  not  whether  we   imi- 


Ethics  in  the  School  15 

tate,  or  do  not  imitate,  that  makes  us  original, 
mdividual,  talented.  It  is  the  matrvationjof 
the  imitation.  The  same  is  true  of  emulation. 
It  is  the  willed  imitation  that  gives  an  un- 
changed copy;  that  is  a  foe  to  independent 
action.  It  is  the  directed,  the  suggested,  the\ 
premeditated  rivalry  that  develops  low  forms ) 
of  competition.  -^ 

The  difference  in  influence  of  suggested  imi- 
tation and  emulation,  and  of  unconscious  imi- 
tation and  emulation  was  well  illustrated  in  a 
school  which  contained  forty-eight  six-year- 
old  children  and  two  teachers.  The  teacher  in 
charge  was  giving  the  children  exercise  by 
having  a  child  at  the  head  of  each  aisle  run, 
upon  the  giving  of  a  signal,  to  see  which  could 
beat  in  reaching  the  back  of  the  room.  It  was 
a  painful  exercise  to  witness.  It  was  a  scram- 
ble, almost  a  stampede.  The  fastest  runner 
was  noisy  and  rough ;  the  children  were  urged 
to  run  like  him,  and  beat  him.  They  formed 
themselves  on  the  model  as  directed.  It  was 
a  painful  sight,  those  hard  lines  in  the  faces, 
those  flying  arms,  those  pounding  heels.  The 
other  teacher  rose  and  asked  if  the  children 
might  be  seated,  as  she  wished  to  run.  The 
first  teacher  assented,  and  the  second,  a  grace- 
ful, fleet  runner,  ran  a  few  times  back  and 
forth.     The  children  were  filled  with  delight. 


i6 Ethics  in  the  School 

When  she  changed  and  ran  without  comment, 
two  or  three  steps  as  they  had  been  running, 
they  were  dismayed.  When  the  light  running 
was  resumed,  it  was  a  joy  to  see  the  changed 
faces,  and  the  endeavor  to  run  as  the  admired 
one  ran.  It  was  a  perfect  illustration  of  the 
great  gulf  between  suggested  imitation  and 
rivalry  on  the  one  hand,  and  spontaneous 
effort  to  do  a  fine  thing  well  on  the  other  hand. 

Let  us  turn  to  a  consideration  of  the  claims 
that  determine  our  relations  with  the  self  and 
our  relations  with  others  :  the  egoistic  and  the 
^altruistic  claims. 

Often  when  a  child  is  attractive  physically, 
or  is  quick  mentally,  parents  and  friends  rec- 
ognize the  beauty  or  the  precocity,  until  the 
egoistic  claims  are  uppermost  in  the  child's 
mind,  and  a  Tito  Melema  is  the  outcome.  Just 
as  often,  when  a  child  is  unattractive  physically, 
or  is  slow  mentally,  the  claims  of  others  upon 
his  time  and  strength  are  enforced  until  an 
Ishmael  is  the  outcome.  Fortunate  is  it  for 
children  suffering  from  this  one-sided  home 
training,  if  in  the  schools  they  have  large- 
minded  teachers;  teachers  who  will  counter- 
act the  vanity  of  the  flattered  one  by  arousing 
thoughts  about  the  excellencies  of  others; 
teachers  who  will  pour  the  sunshine  of  love 
into  the  life  of  the  unhappy  one,  by  recogniz- 


Ethics  in  the  School  17 

ing  the  excellencies  and  the  rights  of  the 
lonely  soul  whose  hand  is  against  everybody. 
Such  large-minded  teachers  will  study  children 
as  they  reveal  themselves  in  speech  and  acts. 
They  will  never  construe  the  flippant  manner 
and  inattention  of  the  one,  or  the  sullen  air 
and  rude  reply  of  the  other,  as  a  personal 
affront.  The  training  of  these  children  so 
that  they  shall  grow  to  a  recognition  of  the 
true  claims  of  self  and  of  others,  may  be  from 
the  standpoint  established  by  the  traditions 
of  the  school,  or  from  that  indicated  by  ethics. 
The  vain  and  the  sullen  may  be  led  to  see 
that  other  children,  those  liked  by  the  teacher, 
do  whatever  the  teacher  requests,  and  also 
answer  in  a  tone  and  manner  different  from 
theirs.  By  following  this  line  of  observation 
and  reasoning,  they  may  learn,  as  a  means  of 
personal  advancement,  to  pay  proper  respect 
to  the  professional  dignity  of  the  teacher.  On 
the  other  hand,  they  may  be  led  to  change 
their  tone  and  manner  because  of  a  belief  in 
helpfulness  and  kindliness  as  a  means  to  the 
happiness  of  all. 

One  afternoon  at  the  close  of  school,  a 
teacher  said  to  the  principal,  "  I  have  told 
Sumner  Brown  to  report  to  you  before  he 
takes  his  seat  again  in  my  room."  The  prin- 
cipal looked  anxious,  and  then  expressed  re- 


1 8  Ethics  in  the  School 

gret  that  Sumner  was  in  trouble  again,  finish- 
ing with  the  comment :  '*  He  is  not  a  bad  boy, 
but  he  will  be  if  he  contiuues  to  have  trouble 
with  his  teacher."  The  teacher  quietly  and 
dignifiedly  repeated  the  impertinent  question 
injected  by  Sumner  into  the  orderly  recitation, 
and  then  gave  a  description  of  the  scene  re- 
sulting from  the  silly  question  :  some  laughed 
outright,  some  tittered,  and  even  the  good  had 
to  assume  a  disapproving  look.  In  reply  to  the 
inquiry,  "What  would  you  have  thought  if  the 
child  of  a  friend  had  raised  the  question  out 
of  school  ?"  the  woman,  not  the  offended  dig- 
nity, replied,  "  I  should  have  thought  it  rather 
bright."  In  response  to  the  remark  that  it 
was  nevertheless  flippant  and  should  under 
any  circumstances  bring  forth  reproof,  she 
bristled  and  said,  "When  I  am  out  in  society, 
I  am  not  going  to  act  like  a  schoolma'am." 
Evidently  her  professional  self  did  not  rank 
very  high  in  the  estimation  of  this  teacher. 
She  viewed  neither  it  nor  the  school  as  a  part 
of  the  social  organization.  A  moment  later 
the  real  self,  which  was  a  noble  one,  said  to 
the  principal,  "When  Sumner  comes  tomor- 
row morning,  please  send  him  directly  to  me." 
Sumner  learned  in  course  of  time  to  guard  his 
thoughts  and  control  his  tongue. 

Here  arises  a  question  in  ethics :  Was  this 


Etiiics  in  the  School  19 

control  based  on  the  recognition  by  the  boy  of 
the  gain  that  would  accrue  to  him  if  he  kept  in 
good  standing  with  his  teacher's  dignity  or  was 
it  founded  on  a  recognition  of  the  needs  and 
rights  of  classmates  and  self  and  teacher  in 
the  recitation  ?  The  question  may  be  put  in 
another  form :  Was  self-control  acquired  be- 
cause of  the  peace  and  advancement  it  brought 
in  a  preparatory  world  ruled  by  a  dictator,  or 
was  it  acquired  because  of  an  appreciation  of 
an  egoistic  and  an  altruistic  claim,  existing  in  a 
real  world — in  a  democracy  of  an  advanced 
type  ? 

The  professional  self  that  for  a  time  ob- 
scured the  vision  of  Sumner's  teacher  is  an 
interesting  study.  In  The  Autocrat  of  the  Break- 
fast Table,  Holmes  lists  the  different  Johns 
and  Thomases  engaged  in  a  dialogue  between 
John  and  Thomas.  In  his  Psychology,  James 
has  an  interesting  dissertation  on  our  different 
selves ;  the  bodily,  the  social,  and  the  spirjt- 
ual.  The  professipnal  self  is  probably  a  sub- 
class of  the  social  self.  Unfortunately,  the 
professional  self  is  a  familiar  figure,  for  it  is 
not  uncommon  to  see  a  man,  upon  entering 
the  class  room  in  which  he  teaches,  suddenly 
transformed  into  a  being  devoid  of  the  graces 
which  mark  him  in  his  intercourse  with  friends 
and  acquaintances  who   are   not  members  of 


Ethics  in  the  School 


his  academic  world.  His  voice  will  ascend  to 
an  unnaturally  high  pitch,  and  will  vibrate 
without  variation  or  any  of  those  cadences 
which  indicate  the  play  of  thought  and  sym- 
pathy. His  dull  wit  will  play  on  the  defi- 
ciencies of  the  young  who  are  to  learn  from 
him.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  see  a  young 
woman  with  an  attractive  face  and  manner 
undergo  a  transformation  equally  surprising, 
upon  entering  the  schoolroom  for  the  work  of 
the  day.  The  corners  of  the  mouth  will  take 
a  downward  direction ;  the  eye  will  become 
alert,  suspicious,  reproving ;  even  the  personal 
identity  will  be  lost,  and  she  will  know  and 
speak  of  herself  in  the  third  person  during 
I  those  hours  when  she  should  say,  with  the 
(Great  Teacher,  "Suffer  little  children  to  come 
unto  me."  The  pronoun  of  the  first  person 
will  be  unknown  in  her  schoolroom,  and  the 
words  of  that  beautiful  command  be  changed 
to  ."  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  Miss 
Smith."  The  care  and  attention  which  are 
bestowed  on  the  professional  self  in  protect- 
ing its  rights  and  its  dignity  have  brought 
many  a  teacher  into  severe  straits,  the  culmi- 
nation of  which  is  expressed  in  the  familiar 
explanation :  It  is  unfortunate  that  I  gave 
those  directions.  They  were  unnecessary  — 
yes,  even  wrong ;  but  now  that  they  have  been 


Vur 


Ethics  in  the  School  21 

given  they  must  be  obeyed,  otherwise  the  chil- 
dren, the  young  people,  will  lose  their  respect 
for  me  as  their  teacher !  Would  it  not  be  bet- 
iter  to  be  a  man  or  a  woman  than  to  be  the 
Wardian  of  a  professional  self  ? 

In  the  case  of  Sumner  Brown,  the  teacher 
dealt  with  a  child  made  vain  and  selfish  by 
parental  admiration  of  his  quickness  of  the 
wits.  The  conditions  were  not  so  trying  as 
they  would  have  been  had  the  teacher  been 
met  with  a  sullen  manner  and  a  rude  reply. 
The  first  time  that  Grant  Stearns's  new  teacher 
called  upon  him  to  read,  the  pose  of  the  body, 
the  mumbling  tone,  the  sly  wink  to  his  com- 
rades as  he  slid  down  into  his  seat  after  read- 
ing, all  gave  proof  that  Grant  had  been  in 
many  a  conflict  with  his  former  teacher,  and 
that  he  had  not  come  off  second  best,  in  the 
attempt  to  roil  his  natural  enemy,  the  pro- 
fessional dignity  of  his  teacher.  This  new 
teacher,  however,  having  no  false  dignity  to 
maintain,  did  not  pick  up  the  gauntlet  thrown 
down  by  the  boy,  though  each  evening  when 
alone  the  continued  rudeness  would  come  be- 
fore her,  but  always  could  she  say,  "It  cannot 
be  a  personal  matter  between  Grant  and  me, 
for  he  had  that  manner  the  first  time  I  called 
upon  him  to  recite."  Yet  this  query  always 
followed.  Shall    I    ever   be  able  to   influence 


2  2  Ethics  in  the  School 

the  boy  for  good  ?  Before  long,  Grant 
wearied  of  his  useless  efforts  to  tease  a  teacher 
who  could  not  be  teased,  and  who  had  so 
much  that  was  interesting  in  the  lessons.  One 
day,  after  two  or  three  children  had  read  the 
same  paragraph,  the  teacher  said  :  "There  is 
Atill  a  thought  that  has  not  been  brought  out. 
\How  would  you  read  that.  Grant?"  When 
the  boy  sat  down,  the  teacher  had  the  wisdom 
not  to  make  him  self-conscious  by  words  of 
praise  for  his  intelligible  and  intelligent  read- 
ing. 

Let  us  return  to  a  general  consideration  of 
the  personal  and  social  claims  of  the  children. 
In  arousing  thought  in  regard  to  his  relations 
to  others  and  their  claims  upon  him,  it  is 
necessary,  first,  to  consider  his  relations  to 
himself,  to  his  rights,  to  his  own  needs  Rec- 
ognition of  his  better  self  and  of  his  rights 
[must  be  accorded  him,  if  he  is  to  see  and 
jacknowledge  the  good  in  others,  and  also 
Itheir  rights.  Neglect  to  give  recognition  to 
the  efforts  and  rights  of  the  child  or  of  the 
adult  allows  jealousy  to  establish  itself  in  the 
neglected  soul.  J[ejil(Ousy,  the  second  in  rank 
of  the  seven  deadly  sins,  needs  from  the  cradle 
to  the  grave  the  repressing  hand  of  parent,  of 
teacher,  of  friend,  and  most  of  all  of  self. 
How  often,  instead  of  repressing  this  deadly 


Ethics  in  the  School  23 

passion,  foolish  parents,  teachers,  and  friends 
stimulate  it  by  neglect  or  by  invidious  com- 
parisons, hoping  by  arousing  it  to  enkindle 
intellectual  activity.  Miserable,  jealous  self 
sheds  bitter  tears,  not  because  of  its  own  short- 
comings, but  because  another  has  superior 
merit. 

If  one  were  asked  what  advance  step  has 
been  taken  in  the  development  of  character  of 
the  young  in  the  last  decade,  there  would  be 
no  hesitancy  in  replying,'  for  there  has  been  a 
general  awakening  to  the  necessity  of  culti- 
vating the  feeling  of  pity  for  the  sufferer ;  of 
tenderness  toward  the  weak  and  inferior  ;  of 
compassion  for  the  poor  and  unfortunate ;  of 
kindness  to  animals.  But  we  may  well  ponder 
these  questions  :  Are  we  still  using  rivalry  and 
jealousy  as  incentives  to  learning  ?  Are  we 
theoretically  developing  the  emotions  in  one 
direction,  and  practically  training  them  in 
another?  What  do  the  changes  rung  on  "bet- 
ter than  your  classmates"  indicate?  Why  do 
so  many  school  .exercises  terminate  with  our 
writing  in  a  conspicuous  place  the  names  of 
a  successful  minority,  so  that  the  overwhelm- 
ing majority  that  fell  by  the  wayside  may  be 
reminded  that  others  are  stronger  ?  Do  we 
make  a  sharp  distinction  between  developing 
the  essentials  in  the  moral  character  of  a  child 


24  Ethics  in  the  School 

and   the   essentials    in   the    developed    moral 
character  of  men  and  women  ? 

Alongside  these  questions  about  motivation, 
the  subject  of  punishments  presents'itself .  Mar- 
velous tales  are  toTd  of  a  manly  spirit  aroused 
in  a  boy  by  a  flogging.  Some  assert  that  the 
management  of  a  school  is  made  easier  often, 
not  by  whipping  the  children,  but  by  having 
them  know  that  the  teachers  have  the  right  to 
whip  them.  This  seems  to  me  a  fair  presenta- 
tion of  their  view  of  the  subject :  Children 
Should  be  taught  to  know  something  of  the 
wonderful  structure  and  mechanism  of  the 
body ;  they  should  be  taught  to  care  for  that 
body ;  to  keep  it  clean,  to  keep  it  pure ;  they 
should  be  made  to  realize  that  knowledge  of 
their  environment  comes  by  way  of  the  or- 
gans of  special  sense ;  that  the  interchange  of 
thought  with  parents  and  friends  is  effected 
through  the  action  of  nerve  and  muscular 
structure ;  after  teaching  them  to  respect  this 
temple  and  having  them  memorize  the  lines : 


*'  Make  the  house,  where  Gods  may  dwell, 
Beautiful,  entire,  and  clean." 

Then  to  beat  the  ends  of  these  nerves,  to  mar  1 
the    skin,    will    awaken   a    manly    spirit    in    a 
troublesome    child;    at   least,   the    knowledge 
that  the  teacher  has  the  right  to  treat  that 


Ethics  in  the  School  25 

temple    scornfully,    will    make    the    children 
better. 

In  some  schools  where  the  teaching  corps 
has  not  moved  forward  in  the  training  of  chil- 
dren to  a  belief  in  the  abolition  of  the  non- 
ethical  whip,  but  has  been  forced  by  the  rules 
of  the  board  of  education  to  discontinue 
whipping,  another  instrument,  .^i|ca^Si,  that 
weapon  whose  lash  cuts  and  stings  the  soul, 
has  been  substituted. 

The  abolishment  of  the  rod  and  of  sarcasm 
does  not  mean  that  punishment  is  never  neces- 
sary. Logical  punishment  for  wrong  doing 
should  follow  the  deed.  But  how  many  pun- 
ishments inflicted  are  the  logical  outcome  of 
the  offense  ?  Sometimes  one  hears  or  sees  this 
announcement  in  a  schoolroom:  "The  whole 
class  must  stay  after  school  to  make j^^^ 
geography  lesson."  How  applicable  to  that 
wholesale  punishment  are  these  words  of 
Horace  Mann  : 

Where  all  share  the  same  odious  fortune,  disgrace 
attaches  to  none.  Like  the  inhabitants  of  Botany  Bay, 
all  being  rogues,  nobody  loses  caste.  Shame  never 
belongs  to  multitudes. 

There  is  another  saying  of  his  that  reaches 
the  subject  from  another  standpoint:  "You 
cannot  open  blossoms  with  a  northeast  storm." 
The  question  regarding  that  class  in  geography 


26  Ethics  in  the  School 

is  this :  Could  it  be  possible  that  a  whole  class 
of  children,  under  healthful  influences,  would 
wilfully  neglect  the  preparation  of  work  as- 
signed by  the  teacher  ?  That  some  had  been 
indolent,  that  some  had  been  negligent  is  prob- 
able, but  that  a  whole  class  had  failed  to  pre- 
pare a  lesson,  suitable  as  regards  length  and 
matter,  is  incredible.  What  was  the  ethical 
training  in  the  punishment  for  the  children 
who  had  accomplished  the  possible,  or  for 
those  who  had  struggled  to  accomplish  the  im- 
possible? What  brings  an  erring  man  or 
woman  to  the  knees  ?  Not  an  illogical  pun- 
ishment. The  erring  one  will  spend  hours, 
trying  to  prove  that  the  punishment  was  unjust. 
In  the  same  way  will  the  child  concentrate 
thought,  not  on  his  error,  but  on  the  illogical, 
or  as  he  terms  it,  the  unfair  punishment.  Is 
not  this  question  of  the  logical  a  fruitful  one 
for  thought  as  we  pass  in  review  the  time- 
honored  methods  for  the  development  of  char- 
acter through  punishment  ?  The  child  as  well 
as  Ithe  adult  should  learn  to  make  expiation 
without  shame  and  without  weakness.  The 
man  or  the  woman,  training  children  is  not 
assigned  the  single  role  of  an  avenging  Nem- 
-  yhTA.'K^  a^  esjs;  there  is  the  other  and  higher,  that  of  an 


Ethics  in  the  School  27 

Let  us  make  a  brief  survey  of  some  questions 
concerning  habits  and  manners. 

Though  there  have  been  exceptional  cases, 
yet  in  the  main  it  has  held  and  still  holds  true 
that  a  wide  gulf  exists  between  the  home  and  the 
school.  In  one  matter,  however,  there  has 
always  been  a  demand  on  the  part  of  each  that 
the  other  should  supplement  its  endeavors  to 
bring  about  a  desired  result.  This  common 
demand  refers  to  the  formation  of  habits  which 
jyill  be  operative  in  society.  Sometimes  the 
desired  result  is  classed  under  habits  and 
sometimes  under  manners,  but  whichever  be 
the  general  term,  there  is  no  uncertainty  as  to 
the  subject-matter.  It  includes  bodily  pos- 
tures, and  forms  of  speech  in  asking  for  favors 
or  courtesies  and  in  replying  to  questions  of  a 
commanding  nature.  In  the  whole  range  of 
ethics,  the  science  of  values,  there  is  nothing 
more  remarkable  than  the  varying  ideals  of  de- 
sirable habits  of  bodily  attitudes  and  of  speech 
— the  unconscious  modes  of  expressing  the  self. 
No  sooner  is  there  an  expressed  agreement 
between  parents  and  teachers  as  to  the  impor- 
tance of  these,  than  a  difference  in  opinion  be- 
comes apparent.  The  parent  has  one  ideal,  the 
teacher  another,  which  in  each  case  is  based 
on  the  customs  of  the  group  in  which  the  indi- 
vidual's social  interests  center.     Neither  ideal 


28  Ethics  in  the  School 

has  significance  as  a  factor  in  education  if  it  is 
set  up  for  copy  for  the  child  to  imitate.  Each 
ideal  has  great  value  if  it  is  used  as  a  means 
of  interpretation  of  conditions  and  their  causes. 
Such,  however,  is  the  attitude  toward  habits  of 
bodily  postures,  and  words  of  appreciation  or 
non-appreciation  of  courtesies  and  kindnesses, 
that  adults  prescribe  the  habits  without  asking 
such  questions  as  these :  How  do  habits  origi- 
nate ?  What  do  they  signify  ?  Why  is  this 
form  of  speech  desirable  always  ?  Is  it  desira- 
ble always  ?  What  is  the  hygienic  value  of 
this  mode  of  sitting,  standing,  writing,  or 
holding  the  book  or  other  material  ?  Why  do 
I,  an  adult,  vary  from  these  standards  in  my 
conduct,  though  well-trained  to  them  in  youth? 
Has  this  form  of  activity  a  useful  function,  or 
is  it  merely  a  mode  of  action  that  pleases  me 
personally  ?  Is  the  law  of  life  repression  in 
childhood  and  overt  action  in  adult  life  ?  Or, 
to  put  it  in  another  way,  is  this  the  law :  Out 
of  repression,  correct  expression  will  develop  ? 
If  these  questions  concerning  habits,  and  all 
other  questions  bearing  on  the  development  of 
character  in  school,  are  to  be  answered  so  that 
children  shall  have  a  high  standard  of  conduct 
and  behavior,  we  must  study  them  as  we  study 
questions  concerning  habits  influencing  our  own 
lives.     It  is  worse  than  useless  to  attempt  to 


Ethics  in  the  School  29 

create  in  the  minds  of  the  young,  unnatural 
ideals  in  which  self-sacrifice  and  self-repression 
are  the  chief  attributes  of  goodness.  Such 
ideals  make  the  attitude  of  parents  and  teach- 
ers harsh,  or  weakly  sentimental.  Equally 
objectionable  is  it  to  permit  children,  through 
their  speech  and  acts,  to  develop  ideals  in 
which  rude  self-assertion  and  lawlessness  are 
elements  in  right  conduct.  Parents  and  teach- 
ers in  America  have  taken  advanced  position 
on  the  training  of  children  through  their  activi- 
ties. Some,  however,  fail  of  that  conception 
of  character  which  includes  the  development 
of  the  child  not  only  as  an  individual  but  also 
as  a  member  of  society.  To  let  him  run  riot, 
as  a  law  unto  himself  and  the  only  law,  is  to 
help  him  to  become  a  one-sided,  ill-equipped 
individual  in  the  social  community.  In  the 
revolt  against  Czarism  in  parents  and  teachers, 
it  is  a  fatal  mistake  to  let  the  child  set  himself 
up  as  Czar ;  because  in  that  case,  the  wand  of 
unbridled  authority  has  merely  changed  hands. 
It  is  dangerous  to  seize  upon  new  half-truths 
and  substitute  them  for  old  half-truths. 

No  sooner  is  the  wand  of  authority  men- 
tioned in  connection  with  children  than  parents 
and  teachers  begin  to  discuss  the  question  of 
a  child's  will  and  its  development.  Accord- 
ing to  the   general  consensus  of  opinion,  the 


30  Ethics  in  tlic  SchooJ 

will  acts  in  those  moments  only  in  which  reason 
and  desire  are  in  conflict ;  and  in  that  conflict 
will  appreciates  the  arguments  of  reason.  If 
the  rational  line  of  action  is  followed  out,  will 
is  declared  victorious ;  it  is  strong.  If  irra- 
tional or  foolish  motives,  that  is  desires,  prevail, 
the  will  is  declared  vanquished  ;  it  is  too  weak 
for  battle  with  the  agents  of  evil.  In  this  con- 
ception adults  find  not  only  unanswerable 
reasons  for  alertness  in  strengthening  the  will 
of  a  child,  but  also  excuses  for  their  own 
weaknesses  and  shortcomings.  The  assign- 
ment of  the  will  to  playing  the  leading  part 
or  character,  in  a  process  separate  and  aloof 
from  the  emotions,  from  the  motives  that  have 
been  developed  by  habit,  and  from  the  mental 
content  which  functions  behind  those  motives, 
has  limited  it  to  being  a  choosing  power  of  the 
mind.  This  limitation  of  the  will  entirely  ob- 
scures the  impulses  and  emotions  as  the  begin- 
nings of  the  act — obscujres  the  intellectual 
phase  of  the  act.  In  other  words,  many  today, 
like  the  old  psychologists  and  metaphysicians, 
fail  to  observe  all  that  is  involved  in  a  volun- 
tary act — lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  whole 
self  is  carried  into  the  realization  of  an  idea. 
They  fail  to  see  that  an  act  of  the  will  is  an 
expression  of  that  which  satisfies  one's  self ;  in 
short,  that  the  will  is  simply  the  final  step  in 


Ethics  in  the  School  31 


the  activity  through  which  we  make  ourselves 
known. 

In  training  the  will  of  a  child,  it  is  generally 
assumed  that  what  is  called  reason  is  the  ideal 
constructed  by  the  trainer,  and   desire  is  the 
alluring,  deceiving  ideal  constructed  by  the  one 
to  be  trained.     Without  depreciating  the  value 
of  the  experience  of  the  adult  in  weighing  con- 
ditions that  are  often  new  and  perplexing  to 
the  boy  or  girl,  one  sees  in  this  assumption  of 
a  command  of  all  that  is  right  afid  reasonable 
by  the  adult,  an  ignoring  of  mentality  in  the 
child.     The  conduct  of  a  home  or  a  school  on 
the  theory  that  it  is  the  parent's  home,  or  the 
teacher's  school,  and  hence  the  child  must  con- 
form to  the  laws,  rules,  or  customs  which  the 
parent,  or  teacher,  has   decided  to  be  satis- 
factory to  him,  is  hostile  to  the  growth  in  the 
mind  of  the  child  of  an  ideal  of  co-partnership 
in   and  responsibility  for  the  order  and  care 
of  that  home  or  that  school.     When  the  child 
doubts  the  reasonableness  of  the  customs  or 
rules,  he  expresses  his  doubts  as  his  elders  do, 
by  glances  and  movements  that  are  intelligible 
to  every  on-looker.     In  the   case    of  Sumner 
Brown,  to  see  himself  the  observed  of  all  ob- 
servers was  the  boy's  conception  of  pleasure. 
The  customs  of  the  school  interfered  with  his 
individualistic  theory  of  activity.     When  his 


32  Ethics  in  the  School 

teacher  endeavored  to  develop  an  idea  of  the 
school  as  a  cooperative  workshop,  two  con- 
ditions must  have  pressed  for  recognition  in 
her  mind,  before  she  was  properly  prepared  to 
advance  any  valuable  ideas :  first,  the  boy's 
idea  of  the  recitation  was  such  that  he  was  an 
actor  ready  to  break  into  her  game ;  second, 
her  idea  of  the  recitation  was  such  that  thought 
in  its  free  play  was  subjected  to  the  limitations, 
not  of  the  subject,  but  of  what  she  deemed 
admissible  in  her  domain.  She  indicated  this 
when  saying  she  should  have  thought  the 
question  "  rather  bright "  outside  of  the  school- 
room. These  conditions  carry  or  force  the 
question  back  of  the  expression  of  the  boy's 
idea  of  individualistic  smartness  to  a  considera- 
tion of  the  intellectual  habits  and  ideas  that 
are  the  mainspring  of  his  activity.  These  habits 
and  ideas  will  necessarily  be  studied  as  results 
of  the  response  to  stimuli  in  the  social  environ- 
ment. 

In  the  case  of  Grant  Stearns,  there  was  the 
expression  of  a  mind  that  had  been  finding 
little  nutriment  in  the  material  spread  before 
it,  in  the  conditions  surrounding  it.  The 
mental  disgust  was  shown  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  stimulate  a  similar  reaction  by  the  adult 
unless  the  conditions  back  of  the  conduct 
were  analyzed  to  their  causes.     In  the  accen- 


Ethics  in  the  School  33 

tuation  of  the  school  conditions  that  entered 
into  the  environment  of  these  boys,  it  is  not 
forgotten  that  much  of  their  conduct  may  have 
been  a  reproduction  of  the  speech  and  manners 
of  older  associates  on  the  street,or  in  the  home. 
Each  boy  may  have  been  finishing  the  circle 
of  action  that  began  in  stimulations  entirely 
outside  of  the  school,  and  were  worked  into 
images  that  waited  time  and  place  for  presenta- 
tion. And  yet  there  must  have  been  in  the 
atmosphere  of  the  school,  conditions  anal- 
ogous to  those  outside.  The  intellect  which 
had  found  pertness  or  rudeness  stimulating  to 
constructive  activity,  was  by  association  again 
busy  with  a  like  construction.  In  the  first 
illustration  the  teacher  found  she  had  not  gone 
far  enough  to  discover  the  cause  ;  in  the  second, 
the  teacher  did  not  offer  stimuli  for  like  pro- 
ductions to  the  mind  that  had  images  of  itself 
as  a  tantalizing  being  stirring  the  wrath  of  a 
superior. 

The  strength  of  the  pioneer  kindergartners 
lay  in  that  comprehension  of  the  relation  of 
teacher  and  pupil  which  precludes  the  teach- 
er's offering  or  responding  to  stimuli  that  are 
the  basis  of  images  of  rude  self-assertion  or 
over-emphasis  of  the  individual.  With  the 
influx  of  thousands  into  the  teaching  corps  of 
the    kindergarten,   there   have    entered    some 


34  Ethics  in  the  School 

who  have  not  studied  this  subject  so  thor- 
oughly that  they  recognize  the  never-failing 
truth  that  the  mind  reacts  with  its  natural 
vigor  to  a  stimulus  that  is  sincere,  genuine ; 
and  that  it  reacts  with  disgust  or  a  weak  senti- 
mentality to  a  stimulus  that  is  affected  and 
insincere.  It  would  be  unnecessary  to  refer  to 
this  condition  were  it  not  that  the  reference 
helps  emphasize  the  truth  that  the  intellect 
consciously,  or  unconsciously,  constructs 
images  and  ideas  that  are  similar  in  nature  to 
the  stimulus  to  which  it  responds,  and  in  the 
will  it  gives  the  outward  expression  of  the  re- 
sults of  that  activity. 

In  this  brief  survey  of  the  will  nothing  has 
been  said  of  those  desires  that  draw  us  hither 
and  thither  after  the  intellect  has  made  its  de- 
cision. This  conflict  between  desires  and 
reason  is  not  a  combat  over  which  will  pre- 
sides. The  selection  or  setting  of  an  end  or 
aim  to  be  attained,  the  selection  of  the  means 
by  which  it  shall  be  attained,  depend  upon 
intellectual  qualities.  The  intellect  is  the 
selecting  and  constructing  activity,  the  per- 
ceiving and  conceiving  part  of  us.  It  builds 
ideals  and  directs  the  realization  of  them. 
The  emotions  encourage  or  discourage  us 
with  their  return  waves  of  approval  or  disap- 
proval of  the  aims  which  spirit  has  chosen  and 


Ethics  in  the  School  35 

the  degree  of  success  with  which  it  has  made 
them  effective  in  life. 

In  the  last  analysis,  the  fundamental  in  the 
ethical  life  is  the  same  in  the  school  as  it  is  in 
all  other  divisions  of  society.  It  is  the  de- 
termining cause  of  the  act  that  makes  the 
individual  weaker  or  stronger.  In  the  de- 
termining cause  are  involved  the  original 
motivation,  the  criticism  of  self  upon  its  own 
motive  and  act,  and  the  effort  to  elevate  both 
to  a  higher  plane.  The  ethical  life  cannot  be 
separated  or  differentiated  from  the  intellec- 
tual life.  If,  in  the  work  of  the  school,  haste 
and  facility  in  forming  and  stating  opinions 
and  judgments  are  the  predominating  char- 
acteristic, then  sincerity  in  getting  at  the 
essence  of  things  cannot  be  the  final  result. 
If  knowledge  acquired  in  the  school  is  used 
there  only,  then  it  must  be  viewed  as  some- 
thing that  has  no  intrinsic  value — has  a  mark- 
ing value  merely. 

A  little  eight-year-old  girl,  after  reading  a 
paragraph,  said,  "I  didn't  make  it  mean  what 
I  think  it  means,"  and  then,  without  any  re- 
mark from  her  teacher,  re-read  it  to  her  own 
satisfaction.  This  demand  by  the  little  child 
that  she  should  rightly  interpret  the  author; 
this  giving  the  soul's  touch  to  the  expression 
of  thought ;  this  permeating  the  whole  with 


36  Ethics  in  the  School 

the  spirit  of  the  worker,  means  an  advance  in 
the  ethical  life  far  beyond  that  in  the  child 
who  is  trained  to  read  according  to  a  model. 
To  train  to  imitate  is  to  ignore  the  relation  of 
expression  to  thought,  the  relation  of  will  to 
intellect.  In  the  act  of  the  little  girl,  the 
recognition  of  the  symbols  of  thought  as 
given  on  the  printed  page,  the  grasp  of  the 
author's  meaning,  the  command  of  the  vocal 
apparatus  so  that  the  technique  would  be  co- 
ordinated with  the  idea,  were  those  determi- 
nations by  the  self  which  resulted  in  an  overt 
act  that  showed  a  developing  and  disciplined 
will. 

This  training'  of  the  ethical  nature  through 
free  expression  is  understood  in  diverse  ways. 
A  discussion  between  several  teachers  who 
were  representatives  of  various  theories  once 
presented  the  diversity  in  four  lines  of  think- 
ing. It  was  opened  by  a  teacher  who  secures 
highly-finished  results  in  everything  she 
deems  worthy  of  undertaking  in  her  school- 
room; who  secures  courteous  behavior  from 
all  children.  The  discussion  was  brought  on 
by  an  inspection  of  work  in  water  colors  which 
some  elementary  school  children  had  been 
doing. 

The  first  speaker  gave  vent  to  her  indig- 
nation over    the   masses   of    crude,   inharmo- 


Ethics  in  the  School  37 

nious  colors  in  some  of  the  work  exhibited. 
She  outlined  her  theory  as  follows :  A  child 
should  never  be  permitted  to  experiment  and 
go  wrong.  The  teacher  should  carefully  in^ 
struct  him  in  the  harmony  of  colors,  and  the 
necessity  for  toning  down  the  standard  colors 
if  they  are  to  cover  comparatively  large 
spaces.  In  all  work  the  teacher  should  have 
a  clear  conception  of  an  artistic  whole,  and 
the  pupils  should  be  so  directed  that  they  will 
come  out  of  a  school  exercise  with  a  compo- 
sition, a  drawing,  a  reading  of  an  article,  a  bit 
of  color  work,  a  carriage  in  walking,  a  manner 
in  addressing  others,  superior  in  its  finish  to 
anything  they  could  have  conceived  without 
suggestion  and  direction.  This  general  ad- 
vance of  the  pupils,  she  concluded,  would 
prove  the  teacher  to  be  a  good  one.  One  of 
the  listeners  murmured,  "Now  I  understand 
why  I  always  think  her  pencil  has  touched  up 
the  children's  drawings." 

A  second  teacher,  after  inveighing  against 
such  a  system  of  repression,  summed  up  her 
theory  and  practice  about  as  follows  :  Miss  X 
is  right  when  she  says,  "A  teacher  should 
have  a  clear  conception  of  an  artistic  whole, 
and  that  the  class  should  come  out  with  a  re- 
sult in  harmony  with  that  conception."  But, 
between    the    beginning   and   the   end,  there 


$8  Ethics  in  the  School 

should  come  in  the  self-activity  of  the  chil- 
dren.    This    activity  would  be  manifested  in 
^eir   attempts  to  tell  what  sentences  would 
sound  well  in   the  written  composition ;  what 
emphasis  would  be  best  in  the  reading ;  what 
colors  should  be  used  in  the  picture  or  draw- 
[  ing ;  what  carriage  would  be  most  graceful  in 
i  walking.     The  teacher  should  show  the  con- 
I  gruity  or  incongruity  of  the  various   sugges- 
\  tions,  and  when  the   right  ones  were  secured, 
Ithen  should  the  children  begin  constructing  in 
laccord  with  the  light  given.     In  reply  to  the 
question,  "  Would  not  the  exercise  be  largely 
an  attempt  to  guess  at  your  standard  ?  "  she 
replied :  "  Guessing  games  have  always  been 
helpful." 

The  third  group  was  represented  by  one 
who  said  she  did  not  form  any  conception  of 
the  result;  she  let  the  children  work  out 
whatever  seemed  right  to  them.  When  asked 
what  growth  there  was  under  this  method,  she 
said  the  very  small  number  that  had  enough 
mental  power  to  become  scholars  and  artists 
came  out  strong  at  the  end  of  the  year ;  and 
the  large  numbers  that  were  indolent  and  in- 
different, and  always  wanting  to  try  something 
else,  simply  proved  that  the  majority  of  chil- 
dr^en  in  our  schools  should  be  taken  out  and 
put  to  some  kind  of  regular  work. 


Ethics  in  the  School  39 

The  members  of  the  fourth  group  were  not 
so  positive  in  their  statements  as  were  those  of 
the  first  three.  Each  deprecatingly  referred 
to  the  fact  that  she  had  once  thought  as  those 
of  the  first  or  second  or  third  group  thought. 
One  of  them  finally  said  she  agreed  with  the 
first  two  speakers,  that  the  teacher  should  have 
a  clearly  defined  idea  of  the  movement  in  a 
literary  production ;  should  read  sympathetic- 
ally and  understandingly;  should  be  familiar 
with  the  structure  of  English  prose  composi- 
tion ;  should  appreciate  rhythm  in  music  and 
harmony  in  color ;  should  have  the  speech  and 
manners  of  a  well-bred  woman.  She  agreed 
with  them,  that  the  result  of  class  work  should 
be  an  advance  on  the  children's  power  before 
the   new  exercise   came    into  the  field.     But 

when  the  re^ult5 were   obtained   they  should 

not  be  duplicates  of  the  teacher's  construc- 
tions. They  should  each  be  a  construction 
resting  on  a  child's  conception.  And  the 
vitalizing  force  in  each  construction  should  be 
the  child's  endeavor  to  convey  to  others 
through  the  media  of  the  voice  and  the  read- 
ing, of  the  pen  and  the  written  language,  of 
the  brush  and  the  picture,  of  the  speech  and 
the  manner,  the  mental  creation  on  which  the 
Construction  rested.  In  response  to  the  ques- 
tion, "What  would  you  do  when  that  construe- 


K 


40  Ethics  in  the  School 

tion  was  a  meaningless  jumble  of  words,  a 
meaningless  repetition  of  the  words  in  the 
book,  a  meaningless  rendering  of  the  song,  a 
meaningless  combination  of  lines  and  colors, 
a  meaningless  combination  of  awkwardness 
and  timidity?"  she  said  she  should  not  drop 
that  product  and  begin  working  for  a  new  one, 
as  she  used  to ;  that  she  would  positively  de- 
to  know  what  this,  which  was  to  her  a 
meaningless  construction,  stood  for  with  the 
child ;  that  she  had  found  since  she  had  come 
to  desire  positively  to  understand  the  child's 
mental  creation  through  his  construction,  in- 
stead of  worrying  because  the  construction 
did  not  tally  with  hers,  the  dullest  child  had 
responded  to  her  desire ;  she  had  found  that 
kindliness  and  the  atmosphere  of  a  few  good 
beautiful,  and  true  things,  had  in  time  en- 
riched the  mental  creation  and  strengthened 
the  objective  construction. 

This  last  theory  and  method  of  teaching 
recognizes  the  will  as  a  function  of  the  thought 
that  is  back  of  it ;  it  is  based  on  the  belief  that 
the  development  of  the  will  is  the  growth  of 
power  in  the  individual  to  make  his  acts  ex- 
press more  and  more  truly  the  feeling  and 
t:hinking  that  are  their  motif ;  it  aims  to  keep 
the  child-self  a  unit  in  what  the  psychologist 
calls  his  feeling,  thinking,  and  willing,  i.  e.,  it 


Ethics  in  the  School  41 


does  not  inject  another's  thought  between 
thinking  and  willing  in  that  mental  movement 
which  takes  its  rise  in  feeling,  develops  in 
thinking,  culminates  in  doing,  and  then  with 
the  judgment,  "well-done,"  or  "  fairly  done," 
or  "badly  done,"  reverberates  back  into  the 
emotions ;  in  short,  it  makes  frankness,  sin- 
cerity, and  integrity  in  dealing  with  one's 
self  the  basis  of  the  ethical  and  social  virtues. 
The  development  of  character  in  children  will 
be  in  harmony  with  their  mental  life-process 
when  they  know  (possibly  unconsciously)  their 
teachers  as  sensitive  to  and  sympathetic  with 
the  aims  of  their  struggling  and  often  baffled 
young  souls  ;  as  intelligent  in  regard  to  the 
truth  and  the  way  thereof. 

There  are,  and  there  have  always  been, 
teachers  who  have  sustained  to  their  pupils  the 
relation  of  friend  and  guide.  One  can  safely 
assert  that  the  teaching  corps  as  a  body,  longs 
to  be  the  means  of  turning  the  light  into  the 
souls  of  children  so  that  no  darkness  shall 
thwart  and  hinder  the  upward  climb.  Right 
there,  in  the  very  form  of  that  longing,  lies  the 
beginning  of  the  mistake  of  many  teachers : 
for,  in  their  vain  imaginings,  they  are  the  be- 
ginning, the  middle,  and  the  end  of  the  move- 
ment of  which  light  is  to  be  the  result.  The 
very  talent  that  makes  many  successful  in  the 


4  2  Ethics  in  the  School 

schoolroom,  combined  with  the  traditional 
theory  regarding  teachers  and  teaching,  helps 
develop  self-assertion,  rather  than  sympathy 
and  intelligent  helpfulness.  In  some  this  un- 
due self-assertion  takes  on  a  form  of  dictation 
that  crushes  the  timid,  and  makes  the  bold  re- 
bellious. In  others,  it  takes  on  such  an  ingra- 
tiating manner,  that  both  teacher  and  children 
are  stifled  in  an  atmosphere  laden  with  adula- 
tion and  sentimentality. 

Sympathy  cannot  develop  where  children 
are  accustomed  to  hear  others  reproved  con- 
stantly. Sarcasm,  reproofs,  stern  descriptions 
of  the  beautiful,  the  good,  and  the  true,  kill  sym- 
pathetic tendencies  and  cause  to  blossom  self- 
ishness and  indifference ;  sympathy  cannot 
expand  where  children  are  accustomed  to  con- 
stant praise.  Flattery,  indiscriminate  praise 
of  results  having  neither  function  nor  value, 
kill  sympathetic  tendencies  and  cause  to  blos- 
som self-satisfaction  and  ennui.  That  sympa- 
thy, which  characterizes  the  wise  parent  and 
the  thoughtful  teacher,  makes  the  dull  child 
feel  that  the  result  of  his  slow  thinking  will  be 
treated  with  respect ;  it  makes  the  vain  one 
realize  that  the  expression  of  his  thought  is 
prized  and  yet  that  his  vanity  grieves  a  friend  ; 
it  makes  the  indolent  regret  that  he  has  noth- 
ing to  offer;  it  makes  the  over-shrewd   blush 


Ethics  in  the  School  43 

as  he  fumbles  with  counterfeit  coin ;  it  makes 
the  faint-hearted  wrestle  with  thought;  it 
makes  the  gifted  feel  the  responsibity  for 
strengthening  his  talents.  Pupils  always  look 
with  an  open  eye  and  direct  gaze  toward  a 
sympathetic  teacher.  The  open  eye  and  the 
direct  gaze  indicate  a  mind  turned  toward  a 
light  that  it  knows  will  not  blind  or  dazzle,  but 
will  illumine. 

With  the  teaching  corps  standing  in  this 
sympathetic  attitude  toward  the  young,  the 
school  will  not  set  up  an  external  which  an 
adult  has  worked  out  for  the  young  to  copy 
through  blind  obedience.  A  far  higher  prin- 
ciple than  that  of  obedience  in  conscious  sub- 
servience or  submission  to  another's  thought 
will  permeate  the  school.  The  principle  thalx 
is  recognized  as  fundamental  in  intellectual! 
growth  will  be  recognized  as  fundamental  iiy 
the  expression  of  growth.  Ideals  of  relations 
to  others  and  of  duty  to  self  will  be  con- 
structed out  of  the  stimuli  arising  from  the 
world  in  which  the  children  find  life.  This 
will  not  be  a  world  determined  by  one  being  ; 
it  will  be  the  product  of  the  cooperation  of 
many  workers.  Activity  in  such  a  school- 
world  will  develop  habits  of  doing  with  and 
for  others ;  will  develop  attention  to  the  far- 
reaching  effects  of    everyday   conduct;     will 


44  Ethics  in  the  School 

develop  conceptions  of  truth,  sincerity,  good- 
ness, and  loveliness  as  outgrowths  of  the  daily 
experience ;  will  develop  a  will  that  identifies 
itself  with  the  longings,  the  aspirations,  the 
weaknesses,  and  the  strength  of  the  mind 
which  it  makes  known  to  its  fellow-beings.  In 
such  an  atmosphere  the  strong  will  be  gener- 
ous, the  weak  will  dare  to  be  true ;  the  gifted 
and  the  lowly  will  each  strive  for  the  good  of 
all. 


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